


defiance

by dscombobulate



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Mythology References, Zutara Week, Zutara Week 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:20:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25525045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dscombobulate/pseuds/dscombobulate
Summary: “I would fight gods to save you.” greek mythology inspired. for zutara week 2020, prompt: reunion. — zuko x katara
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 40





	defiance

—i—

“Would you save me from perish, my love?”

It was one of those silly conversations, the type that makes you think, but then again not as you respond on instinct, and yet leaves you pondering how much you are willing to sacrifice for the person who inquisitively asked the question.

“I would fight gods to save you.” Zuko answered in a heartbeat.

Katara gleamed at him with her bright blue eyes. She knew he meant every word. She’d do the same, too.

—ii—

Katara loves to venture out of the palace. She loves to be among her people, watching, interacting, listening, and pretty much anything as long as it’s with her people. The water girl has a heart the size of the ocean, she has no fear of depth and a great fear of shallow living.

Today she decided to venture past the town and into a forest nearby, this time to watch, interact, and listen to animals and insects and trees and anything alive. She watches the sunlight bleed through leaves as her feet lightly sink into the dirt below her. She wades until she is lost in her own world within that small forest.

She sees a lizard snake. It was venomous.

—iii—

The venom kills, but it also sends you to a place where only eternal suffering can exist.

She runs as fast as she could with a large bleeding wound on her right ankle. Unfortunately, she faints somewhere within town, where her own people horrifyingly watched her fall.

—iv—

Zuko dropped everything he was handling as soon as he heard. He forgets everything in his life but one: Katara.

He was too late, she was gone.

That was the night he prayed for the first time.

—v—

The vision of the moon goddess came to him in his dream. Yue.

“Help me,” Zuko pleaded, “please, I want to save her. Please.”

_Awaken_ , she said.

—vi—

Zuko awakes in darkness and hushed voices. He lights a fire in his palm and meets the eyes of several monsters, moaning and groaning, pleading him to save them, too. He treads along the narrow path, going downwards and downwards. There was something primal in him, and it was his desire to save Katara at all cost. At that moment onwards, no beast or god could faze him.

He pauses in front of Agni, the god of this world that thrives in darkness and hushed voices.

_Foolish king, I admire your tenacity, and for that you can save her, but on one condition._

“Anything.”

_You will walk with her all the way back to where you came from, but you must walk before her, and trust that she follows, for you cannot look back at her until you are out of my kingdom._

“I accept. Now, where is she?”

The waterbender that he loves so deeply appears beside him once again, and he couldn’t help but shed tears at the sight of her. He realizes something wrong.

“She…cannot see me?” Zuko asked in shock.

—vii—

Zuko cannot hear her, neither voice nor footsteps echo throughout the void. And she cannot see him, he is merely a shadow to her. In the darkness, it does not help.

He fears that Agni may have fooled him. This thought has tempted him to look back at least sixteen times. Once to make sure she’s behind him, fifteen of those just to revel at the sight of her. He keeps walking at a steady pace for he fears she’ll walk past him, and lose his end of the bargain. And yet something inside him pulls at his anxiety that Agni may have lied.

Nevertheless, he treads on.

—viii—

Light. He sees light, and it makes him walk faster. He can finally be with her soon.

But suddenly his footsteps feel heavy. It gets heavier with every step. His heart clashing with his ribcage, his hands sweating bullets, and his blood seemingly draining out of his body.

He watches her walk past him, and suddenly he understands.

Behind him, the moaning and groaning are merely whispers now, echoing into the cursed abyss. Before him, Katara steps into the light, ten steps ahead of him, and she is free, and alive once again. He sees the side of her face, and confusion was written all over her perfect skin that glowed with hues of pink and purple, like the sun rising behind her. Her hair floating in the wind and moving like the waves she commands. Her sweet vanilla scent is faint, yet still being carried over to him. He hears her call his name with that voice of hers that could make even angels feel fortunate to listen to, “Zuko?”

She turns around fully and finally sees him, still unable to move. _How beautiful she is in this moment right now_ , he thinks. As tears stream down his cheeks and down to his smile, he says, “There’s my girl.”

She starts to run back to grab him.

The threshold closes between them.

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first time writing after 5+ years so i’m really rusty. and yes, it’s inspired by the tragic myth of orpheus and eurydice, but with a twist.
> 
> special thanks to my boyfriend for helping me write the ending. i love you.
> 
> happy zutara week, everyone.
> 
> — dee


End file.
